Botnet: A new network terminology

The continued growth and diversification of the Internet has been accompanied by an increasing prevalence of attacks and intrusions. It can be argued, however, that a significant change in motivation for malicious activity has taken place over the past several years: from vandalism and recognition in the hacker community, to attacks and intrusions for financial gain. This shift has been marked by a growing sophistication in the tools and methods used to conduct attacks, thereby escalating the network security arms race. The reactive methods for network security that are predominant today are ultimately insufficient and that more proactive methods are required. One such approach is to develop a foundational understanding of the mechanisms employed by malicious software (malware) which is often readily available in source form on the Internet. Here is a new network known as BOTNET. A botnet is a group of computers that have been compromised, and run a remote control bot application. The bot herder will send commands to the droves of compromised systems, which will gleefully obey.